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Real world cost of owning a class c - ouch!

super_camper
Explorer
Explorer
I just sold my class c after 7 years of ownership. Since I have all records and an accurate depreciation cost (buy-sell) I thought I would calculate the real world cost of use.

The costs outlined below include everything related to the rv itself. The costs DO NOT include campgrounds or other vacation expenses.

I bought in 2007 and got a great deal with a good discount. We vacationed exclusively in the RV while we had it
- owned it for 7 years
- drove it 68,500 miles
- generator had 455 hours
- used it for 455 nights over the 7 year period

The total cost over 7 years including depreciation, insurance, license, storage, maintenance, and fuel was about $87,000
- $12,900 / year
- $192 / night
- $1.28 / mile

A motorhome is absolutely the best way to travel but obviously not the most economical.
53 REPLIES 53

John_S_
Explorer II
Explorer II
I would say you just did not use it enough. Last year was a bit heavier then most but I had 260 days in the motorhome. I was out 30 days in January, three weeks in the end of feb beginning of March. A couple weeks in April and just returned fro 30 days on the road. So I am at 95 days this year so far. I guess if you used it more it would work out cheaper. I value the info and did the same calculation once myself and decided to either use it more or sell it.
John
2015 Born Free Royal Splendor on a Ford 550
2018 Rubicon
Boo Boo a Mi Kie
42' 36' & 34 Foretravels sold
2007 Born free 24 sold
2001 Wrangler sold
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland sold
Susie Dolly, Lolly &Doodle (CKC) now in our hearts and thoughts

Gene_in_NE
Explorer II
Explorer II
This topic got me to thinking about the cost of eating. I figure that in my 72 years, I have consumed $236,520. That is based on $3,285 per year. Now to be fair, I need to compare that to all of the other alternatives. :B :B
2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile)
Gene

Sea_Dog
Explorer
Explorer
kendall69 wrote:
super_camper wrote:
I just sold my class c after 7 years of ownership. Since I have all records and an accurate depreciation cost (buy-sell) I thought I would calculate the real world cost of use.

The costs outlined below include everything related to the rv itself. The costs DO NOT include campgrounds or other vacation expenses.

I bought in 2007 and got a great deal with a good discount. We vacationed exclusively in the RV while we had it
- owned it for 7 years
- drove it 68,500 miles
- generator had 455 hours
- used it for 455 nights over the 7 year period

The total cost over 7 years including depreciation, insurance, license, storage, maintenance, and fuel was about $87,000
- $12,900 / year
- $192 / night
- $1.28 / mile

A motorhome is absolutely the best way to travel but obviously not the most economical.


Your math is correct but you " SAVINGS" is WAAAAYYYYYYY off.
A suite with a built in kitchen with a great view on a lske mountain etc. runs anywhere from $650.00 - $1,200.00 a night. Soooooooo, let's average shall we and say $1,0000.00 a night.

455 nights $1,0000 a night is ...wait for it.... $455.000 dollars. I'd say a class C or any RV is a bargain when you calculate real world executive suite numbers.

So now you can see how much money you SAVED.

Now let's talk about PRICELESS memories, that no money on earth can buy Like me this week with my wife and 17 year old daughter on our last run before she goes to college and fly's out of the nest.

No money can buy these memories NONE. I wouldn't trade all the money on earth for what I'm experience in this month with the both of them.

Anyone that tries to reduce RVing down to dollars and cents, is not seeing the the true value of RVing.

You can take all my money, all my possessions, but no one will ever take the memories I'm making as I type this, sitting next to a camp fire eating smores watching my daughter and wife read a book by the light of the fire.


A thousand bucks a night?

We peons certainly are impressed!
Life is short,Death is long,
Take a vacation.

SkiMore
Explorer
Explorer
The OP wasn't trying to make a case against RVs or for them. The post was a factual statement of what it cost this family to operate their RV. Other people will have different numbers. I found the post informative.

gerrym51
Explorer II
Explorer II
The 'smartest' money play is not to own an RV.

But so what. If it makes you happy and you can afford it do it.

The worse thing people can do is buy an rv then dwell on how much it costs to buy and operate.

Now thats a downer.

Capt_Storm
Explorer
Explorer
wbwood wrote:
I don't need the numbers to figure which is more expensive. The RV route is by far more expesive. Sure I can go stay at the beach at an RV resort for $500/week saving me about $500 from staying in a hotel. Of course the RV Resort won't come clean my motorhome daily, make up my bed and change out towels either. But I could also drive my car that gets over 35mpg to the hotel over my motorhome that gets 8mpg. I also already have the car and the motorhome is extra, so that extra $500/month for payment and the extra $500/year for insurance and then the extra $400/year in taxes and registration. Yeah, would be much cheaper without the motorhome. But it has nothing to do with saving money. And if anyone that goes out and buys anything but a $5k $10k unit think they are gonna save money, then think again.

x2

wbwood
Explorer
Explorer
I don't need the numbers to figure which is more expensive. The RV route is by far more expesive. Sure I can go stay at the beach at an RV resort for $500/week saving me about $500 from staying in a hotel. Of course the RV Resort won't come clean my motorhome daily, make up my bed and change out towels either. But I could also drive my car that gets over 35mpg to the hotel over my motorhome that gets 8mpg. I also already have the car and the motorhome is extra, so that extra $500/month for payment and the extra $500/year for insurance and then the extra $400/year in taxes and registration. Yeah, would be much cheaper without the motorhome. But it has nothing to do with saving money. And if anyone that goes out and buys anything but a $5k $10k unit think they are gonna save money, then think again.
Brian
2013 Thor Chateau 31L

KristinU
Explorer
Explorer
A big tradeoff for us is the cost of a dogsitter. We took a two-week 3000+ mile trip last summer and the fact that our dog boys were with us literally offset the cost of gas (and we didn't miss them!)
Cheers!
Kristin
2008 Winnebago Chalet 31C
My camping party: me, DH, DS, and 2 DK9s
Our Blog: www.winnieadventures.blogspot.com

peaches_cream
Explorer
Explorer
kendall69 wrote:
super_camper wrote:
I just sold my class c after 7 years of ownership. Since I have all records and an accurate depreciation cost (buy-sell) I thought I would calculate the real world cost of use.

The costs outlined below include everything related to the rv itself. The costs DO NOT include campgrounds or other vacation expenses.

I bought in 2007 and got a great deal with a good discount. We vacationed exclusively in the RV while we had it
- owned it for 7 years
- drove it 68,500 miles
- generator had 455 hours
- used it for 455 nights over the 7 year period

The total cost over 7 years including depreciation, insurance, license, storage, maintenance, and fuel was about $87,000
- $12,900 / year
- $192 / night
- $1.28 / mile

A motorhome is absolutely the best way to travel but obviously not the most economical.


Your math is correct but you " SAVINGS" is WAAAAYYYYYYY off.
A suite with a built in kitchen with a great view on a lske mountain etc. runs anywhere from $650.00 - $1,200.00 a night. Soooooooo, let's average shall we and say $1,0000.00 a night.

455 nights $1,0000 a night is ...wait for it.... $455.000 dollars. I'd say a class C or any RV is a bargain when you calculate real world executive suite numbers.

So now you can see how much money you SAVED.

Now let's talk about PRICELESS memories, that no money on earth can buy Like me this week with my wife and 17 year old daughter on our last run before she goes to college and fly's out of the nest.

No money can buy these memories NONE. I wouldn't trade all the money on earth for what I'm experience in this month with the both of them.

Anyone that tries to reduce RVing down to dollars and cents, is not seeing the the true value of RVing.

You can take all my money, all my possessions, but no one will ever take the memories I'm making as I type this, sitting next to a camp fire eating smores watching my daughter and wife read a book by the light of the fire.


I don't know where you stay that cost $1,000 per night. I owned a 3 br. 2 1/2 bath condo at Panama City Beach for 8 yrs. It is accross the road from the beach, complex has 3 swimming pools, beach access, tennis courts, clubhouse and plenty of ammenities. We rented it during the summer months (prime time) for $1200 a week. Anyone paying $1,000 a day is wasting money.

OldRadios
Explorer
Explorer
For us buying new was throwing money out the window.
Found a low mileage used C for under $30,000 (same thing new was $70,000).
No hotels or restaurants where we camp.
Don't have to pay for storage.
Always being packed and being able to go camping or bug out at the drop of a hat.
Having our own bed, galley, outdoor gear, and "stuff".
Being able to use the C as a backup generator in case the power goes out.
Using it as a base camp for canoe and hiking trips.
Lots of camping within 200 miles of us.
Don't care what it costs but it's really not that much.
We also have a blast in our C.
2006 Fleetwood 26Q
2010 Harley Softail Toad
2015 Ford Focus Toad
Upstate (the other) New York

triple602
Explorer
Explorer
With all due respect I don't keep track of any expenses and we have an absolute blast in our class C = priceless.

Lumpty
Explorer
Explorer
I think a more true picture is purely evaluating cost of ownership purely on the overhead.

By that I mean depreciation, maintenance, insurance, storage, if you can't keep the unit on your property, and any other fixed costs. I did the math like this when I bought the current unit new, which I'm 3 years into a planned 10 to 12 year ownership period and an expected 75,000 miles of travel, an odometer count which I based on depreciation and about the point to expect increased frequency of repairs.

My numbers were: $37,500 of depreciation ($55k new to $17,500 residual); $700 annually for insurance; $800 of average annual maintenance, the bulk which I do myself, tires being the only real item not handled by me; and I park it at home. That works out to $4,625 a year. If I wanted to throw fuel into the calculation, at 7,500 miles annually, 8mpg and $3.50 per gallon that's another $3,300, pushing the total to $8,000.

But, and it's a big one, all those 7,500 miles represent places I was going anyway, and in another thread post I made recently, having this motorhome has actually saved me big buck$ on many trips, like at the Sebring 12 hour where my son and I were in it for 8 days for each of the past 2 years, and any hotel you'd want to stay in is at least $300/night, with an 8 night minimum. And we'd still have to drive there, or fly and rent a car, and instead of eating well on $150 of groceries for the week, spend almost that much per day on track take-out and restaurants. The RV was roughly at least $2,000 cheaper than hotel travel each of these trips, which is typical for how I use it for my total of 40 nights a year.

I acknowledge I'm not necessarily the typical RV camper, but my cost-of-ownership arithmetic is certainly defensible.
Rob

Too Many Toys.
- '11 E450 Sunseeker 2300
- '16 F150 Supercrew 5.0/FX4
- '09 C6 Z51
- '15 VW Golf Sportwagen daily driver
- '86 Civic and '87 CRX race cars

rexlion
Explorer
Explorer
This was a valid comparison to the alternative of not traveling anywhere.

Comparisons to TT travel or air travel or car/motel travel will necessarily change the numbers.

Ultimately you're trading money for memories, experiences, and zesty living. It's a good trade.
Mike G.
Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. --Frederick Douglass
photo: Yosemite Valley view from Taft Point

Capt_Storm
Explorer
Explorer
Sea Dog wrote:
We bought our used classC in 2000.
Since that time except for the far southwest,
we have covered every corner of North America.

Although, I have a large folder containing
all repair bills, I have never added them up.

We stopped keeping track of fuel costs years ago.

We have driven approx. ninety thousand miles,
I have no idea of the nights.

Even though Canadian gas prices are well north of five
bucks per US gallon,
we are intending to spend July touring the Canadian Maritimes
and some of Maine etc.

We have been down a couple of times before,
always something new to see.


I like the way you think..including the sig..cheers and many more happy miles!

Sea_Dog
Explorer
Explorer
We bought our used classC in 2000.
Since that time except for the far southwest,
we have covered every corner of North America.

Although, I have a large folder containing
all repair bills, I have never added them up.

We stopped keeping track of fuel costs years ago.

We have driven approx. ninety thousand miles,
I have no idea of the nights.

Even though Canadian gas prices are well north of five
bucks per US gallon,
we are intending to spend July touring the Canadian Maritimes
and some of Maine etc.

We have been down a couple of times before,
always something new to see.
Life is short,Death is long,
Take a vacation.